"Each step forward has a sacred meaning of its own"   Sri Chinmoy

Saul 100k Ride - Vale of the Severn - Glos & South Glos, UK - September 2025

With an ultra behind me and my body clearly signalling it wanted a break from running, it was time to get my much-neglected cycling back in shape. 100k looked about the right distance to challenge without overdoing it, so I loaded up an old favourite on the GPS and headed north on the A38 in the half-light on a cold, Autumnal morning. Pretty soon I was encountering issues with my previously-reliable Wahoo GPS (not mine actually, but a long term loan from Vilas) which was sticking and failing to stay connected. This was a hassle, as I had no way of mounting my phone on the handlebars as a backup, but I found the intermittent connection was just enough for me to check out the route ahead and memorise the turns before the screen froze again. The more we rely on technology, the more these frustrations will affect us, but on the other hand it's great when it works! Not so many years ago I was doing Audax rides with a laminated routesheet taped to the handlebars...

This particular route then, partly ridden from the GPS track and partly from memory, headed north on Oldbury Naite then through the winding lanes to Hill, Ham and finally Berkeley. There was a section of A38, with cycle lane making it pretty relaxed despite the odd lorry. I was maintaining a reasonable pace after the slow start (faffing with the GPS trying to get it to work, pausing to check the route at junctions - all causing delays in the first hour) and soon found myself looping through Frampton and Saul on the flat lands around the Severn. In fact it was all flat in the first half after that initial small climb over the ridge near Elburton and the roll down towards Thornbury.

The Stables at Saul was my food stop, so I pulled in there to find the tiny cafe quite busy and got myself some food and a hot drink. This was the half way point, though I did have another stop in mind.

After Saul I rode east towards Stroud, aiming to swing by my daughter's new place - she texted back to confirm she was in so I had the pleasure of tea and a tour of the flat with Jel and Nerys after some googling to find the address and a knock on a neighbour's door by mistake. Fortunately he wasn't bothered as it was not super-early by now. The skies remained relentessly grey and the temperatures cool, a far cry from the hot mountain-run I'd endured in Greece a few days before. The second half of the ride was all hills - small but testing climbs came in quick succession around Uley and Dursley before the long haul south through Wickwar towards Sodbury. in Kingswood I diverted down a narrow lane to see the Abbey Gatehouse, a 14th century remnant of a long lost monastery.

All in all this ride was 68.76 miles, average speed 13.4mph, 2600' of climbing, average 136bpm. I'll take that as a relaunch of my cycling!

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